Computer systems may include a plurality of separate computers, processing components and peripheral devices. It is common for such multiple device systems to span physical areas large enough to encompass multiple and divergent environmental operating conditions, and some conditions may negatively impact device performance. For example, data center facilities housing multiple operating devices within one or more enclosed or otherwise defined areas, sometimes referred to as “computer rooms,” must accommodate and dissipate heat generated by the operation of the computing devices, as well as generally cool or heat the room in response to outside temperature changes and conditions. Although a room may be designed with a heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system sufficient to generally handle a plurality of computing devices, actual implementations of the devices may cause discrete hot spots and cold spots to develop within the room. Devices within or near a hot spot may be subject to unacceptably high temperatures that may negatively impact performance, in some examples causing devices to become damaged or unserviceable until temperatures are reduced. In contrast, devices near or within a cold spot may experience cooling environmental conditions more than adequate to remove any heat generated through their operations, as well as additional heat generated by other devices or by increasing operational loads on said cold spot devices.
Managing computer room and overall data center temperature and thermal distribution to prevent or abate hot spots may be difficult. Often a room or center design is static and unable to adapt to changing equipment performances. For example, an HVAC system designed for a computer room for a given set of computer system device operating parameters may be rendered ineffective or obsolete as equipment or computing tasks change over time, resulting in an operating environment not properly balanced for subsequent computer room equipment or operations. Moreover, operating conditions in a room or center may change as workload demands fluctuate across devices and applications, causing some workloads to become more energy intensive, for example through demand shifts from peak to non-peak time periods or over an operating day or even as considered over other longer durations such as seasonal or general business growth time periods.
Redistributing HVAC and other cooling resources such as chillers and blowers within a data room or center in order to meet changing heating and cooling demands may be difficult, time consuming, expensive, impractical or even unfeasible. Modifications of cooling systems may require all or part of a data room or center to lose power or heating or cooling attributes during implementation, which may exacerbate heating and cooling problems. Moving computing applications from device within hot spots to others within cool areas is also generally impractical as typically involving an inconvenient or unacceptable interruption or loss of computing services.